Waiting for You

Corrie, one of the gracious team members from Canada mentioned this morning that everywhere we have gone, the people are waiting. It reminded me of what we hear while at home. While in the US, we communicate often with our friends here through email and skype. As our conversations end or the email closes, it usually says, “come quickly, we are waiting for you.”

LAMb International (Lynn and the far left and Ruby in the red apron) bring mission groups over every year.  From left to right, Kristine, Cassandra, Debbie, Corrie, Jim and Carl.  It has been an incredible week - lots of hard work and alot of spilling out of themselves for others.

Who Has Been Waiting?

On Tuesday, the team made plans to spend the day at the seniors’ home in Kemin. The seniors were told we were coming the next day. From what we understood, the seniors rose at 7 am, dressed in their finest clothes and sat waiting for us to arrive.

                Gifts of afghans, made by a ministry in Canada, were treasured by the grandmothers.

Corrie gives Anya a hand massage and just loves on her.

This precious man delights everyone with his wooden spoons, tap dancing and gracious spirit inspite of his present life circumstances.  He lived for three years in the home for invalid men and now is here at this much better place.

With Ruby leading the way, the team prepared an incredible lunch, gift bags and an entire day of honoring these precious seniors - abandoned by family member.

For more great pictures of this day, visit lambinternational.blogspot.com
Also, visit another partner - actofkindess.blogspot.com   This is the Wright blog.


Who Else Was Waiting?
On Thursday late afternoon, we all took at 2.5 hour drive to visit the orphanage were our local children had been moved. As the van turned the corner into the school/orphanage grounds, we saw children sitting, waiting for us. We all went in to get acquainted and play games.

Some of the children listening to instructions for a game.

Victor and Rashid....two of the young boys we know from the orphanage near us, now moved to the new one.

Time to celebrate birthdays

Affectionately, we call these "our kids" as we worked with them and played with them for two years in our town. Now that they are two hours away, we don't get to see them as much, but will give it our best try.

                                                            More of our kids...

For What are They Waiting?

After Corrie’s comment this morning, I reflected on the meaning behind it. Yes, these precious people – the homeless seniors to the youngsters at the orphanage are waiting. Not necessarily just for us, but are waiting for people to know they are there. They are waiting for someone to wrap their arms around them and tell them they are loved and not forgotten. They are waiting for someone to give them something and that something is time.

We do our best not to rush in and say quick hellos and dash off. We spend hours at these places where people are simply waiting for something, we hope in some small way, we gave to them – HOPE.

Weekend Full of Meeting New People and Blessing Old Friends

It is now Sunday evening, almost 8 pm and we are sitting in our quiet apartment, relaxing after an incredibly full weekend.  The team from Canada arrived this morning and we will be introducing them to you as well as  writing much about their experiences here over the next two weeks.

For now the pictures will capture this weekend's events.

Saturday evening was Possiblitiy International's evening to honor their workers on the ground. Nearly 45 folks gathered in a local resturant to recognize the local folks here who work with the homeless, elderly, and disabled.  They are truly a blessing to know.

Sitting around this dinner table were ladies from China, Krygyzstan, Canada, Ukraine and  the US...so many different nationalities and one common purpose. (Personal note: Should you be wondering - I am wearing about four layers of clothes as it was snowy and cold and our apartment is quite cold with very little heat. David and I had a laugh over this picture,but I told him no one would think I gained that much weight in two weeks!)

The same goes for this table, too....a common passion and a common love for the people of this Central Asia country.

We awoke to this Sunday morning snow greeting - about three or more inches on the ground. It was beautiful, but it is also spring :). By this evening, it had mostly melted away.

After church and lunch, we were invited to speak to a group of teens. David introduced the team from Canada to a group of young people gathered in a room above a gymnasiusm.  These young people come together each week to hear a speaker and then break dance, learn guitar and drum and some to learn English.

Jim from Canada shares his life changing story with the teens.

These are some of the dynamic young people who were with us earlier in the sharing time. 

On Monday, the team will be visiting a number of humanitarian projects - the home for invalid men, two orphanages and a home for senior adults.  They will be taking food and medical supplies, as well as candy and gifts for the children.  David and I both now teach on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so our time with the team here will be somewhat limited.  We plan to catch up them as we can after classes. Please visit our partners' blog to see highlights of the team's work this week.  lambinternational.blogspot.com

We are thoroughly enjoying our work here and just really getting started. Thank you for sharing our vision with us as you read this blog. It is so appreciated....